Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Women and Leadership: Economic, Political, and Cultural Aspects" Deadline: April 1, 2013

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:16 PDT

The Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought invites contributions for its next issue: “Women and Leadership: Economic, Political, and Cultural Aspects.” At a recent gathering of youth at the “Youth Venture 2012 Summit” held in Washington, D.C., participants were advised that a “leader is a person who guides others toward a common goal, showing the way by example, and creating an environment in which other team members feel actively involved in the entire process, not a boss, but a person committed to carrying out the mission of the venture.” In this issue of the journal, the concept of women as leaders will be explored.

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Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:16 PDT

Hanson, Katherine, Vivian Guilfoy and Sarita Pillai: More than Title IX : how equity in education has shaped the nation

Monica Teixeira de Sousa — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:14 PDT

Rhode, Deborah L.: The Beauty Bias: The injustice of appearance in life and law.

Margaret Svogun — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:13 PDT

Elizabeth M. Bucar: Creative Conformity: The Feminist Politics of U.S. Catholic and Iranian Shi’i Women

Daniel Cowdin — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:12 PDT

Brush, Lisa D.: Poverty, Battered Women, and Work in U.S. Public Policy.

Mildred Bates — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:11 PDT

Beyond Biases and Barriers: Incorporating Women into International Clinical Research

Bridget R. Nugent — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:10 PDT

The application of ethical principles in medical research has been a challenging issue because of the multiplicity of health care systems and the variations that exist in standards of care around the globe. This paper addresses the human rights issues that arise from the unethical treatment of women in clinical research worldwide. It includes the history of international human rights legislation as well as the problems that arose because of the exclusion of women from clinical trials. This paper includes a model for ethical clinical research based on the theories of a biologist and human rights scholar and a bio-ethicist, H. Beaqueart and Sunder Rajan. Finally a case study of a large scale clinical study is used to demonstrate that international human rights legislation and feminist ethical concerns can operate alongside each other in a framework for a successful research endeavor.

Mass Incarceration: Triple Jeopardy for Women in a "Color-Blind" and Gender-Neutral Justice System

Sandra Enos — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:09 PDT

This article will explore the growth in the incarceration of women over the past three decades. Recent scholarship has examined the impact of the war on crime on men, the poor and persons of color and characterized this movement as the New Jim Crow. This strain of research has focused on men. In this article, I will explore the impact of the war on crime on women, their families and their children. I will also explore the so-called gender neutral sentencing reforms and demonstrate the impact of these protocols on women. Finally, I will map the array of social control mechanisms and suggest ways forward to a system that creates greater justice for many of those swept into the war on crime. The author will rely on qualitative research with incarcerated mothers to understand the impact of systems of control on limiting their chances to re-enter mainstream society as workers, mothers, and citizens.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Why It Is Important for Women’s Health

Mary Fanning — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:25:08 PDT

President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 23, 2010 ending the long history of disparity in access to health care services between insured and uninsured persons. Disparity between women and men in obtaining health insurance coverage is also corrected in the act. Women’s organizations that have focused attention on women’s distinctive health needs over the past century and a half laid the foundation for provisions in the legislation that address women’s health. This article addresses health insurance coverage, its impact on health, the particular challenges women have confronted in seeking coverage, and the impact of the ACA on these issues. Mary Fanning is assistant professor of business at Notre Dame of Maryland University where she teaches graduate courses in health care administration. She holds a doctorate in public policy from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

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Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:12 PDT

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Women, Social Policy, and the Law" Deadline: February 20, 2012

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:12 PDT

The Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought invites contributions for its next issue: “Women, Social Policy, and the Law.” “Law is the written system through which state authority is defined; thus the study of law is extremely significant in feminist analysis-----the law is both a source for the denial of women’s rights and one of the avenues to which feminists have turned to address the problems of women’s inequality (Andersen, 2009, p. 326).’’ This issue of The Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought will explore the history and status of women from these perspectives.

Hall, Ann C. and Bishop, Mardia J. (Editors): Mommy Angst: Motherhood in American Popular Culture.

Carol Shelton — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:11 PDT

Drew Humphries (Editor): Women, Violence, and the Media : Readings in Feminist Criminology. Series: Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law

Lisa S. Holley — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:10 PDT

Maud Lavin: Push Comes to Shove : New Images of Aggressive Women

Deborah Herz — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:09 PDT

“An ill-bred lady with a great big chip on her shoulder”: Gender and Race in Mainstream and Black Press Coverage of Eartha Kitt’s 1968 White House Dissent

Sarah Janel Jackson — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:08 PDT

An analysis of mainstream and black press coverage of Eartha Kitt’s January 1968 White House dissent on the Vietnam War is presented. Of particular interest is the way journalists constructed Kitt’s dissent for their audiences within intersecting discourses of gender and race. Findings reveal that mainstream journalists tended to undermine Kitt’s dissent by representing her within a gendered racial binary that denied her access to definitions of true womanhood. At the same time, despite presenting more explicit sexual objectification of the actress, journalists in the black press allowed her dissent legitimacy, challenging mainstream discourses.

Media Interpretation of a Leading Woman Politician’s Performances and Dress Code Challenges

Mercedes Bengoechea — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:08 PDT

Based on a corpus of 63 press columns and reports, the paper analyzes how the media construct the identities of Carme Chacón, the first Spanish woman defence minister. It focuses on two salient pictures of her which represent the roles she successfully performed during her first eleven months in office (from April 2008 to March 2009): minister mother, and hybridly-gendered military officer/minister. The study reveals how Chacón’s success as a politician seems to be proportionate to her closeness to the socially sanctioned feminine role of mother, or to the powerful social roles of minister and military officer, performed from hybridly-gendered identities. It reveals as well that identities are becoming more fluid, and a new way to be feminine is pushing its way in the new order.

A History of Jewish Mothers on Television: Decoding the Tenacious Stereotype

Myrna Hant — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:07 PDT

Since the inception of television in the 1940’s the stereotype of the Jewish mother has persisted. This archetypal figure continues into the 21st. Century morphing from a purely ethnic figure to an icon depicting ambivalence about modern motherhood. In deconstructing the perpetuation of this portrait, two components are key: the historical significance of the shtetl mother and the writers and comedians who interpret the shtetl mentality. Most importantly, though, the inconsistencies towards mothers, so strongly birthed in the rise of Second Wave feminism, are still embedded in the Jewish mother stereotype.

Women as Consumers of Reproductive Technology: Media Representation versus Reality

Shirley Shalev et al. — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:06 PDT

In light of the growing role of media as a central source of health information, this article evaluates the contribution of television representations to the dissemination of information and social conceptions of women regarding new reproductive practices. The study reported here examined a case study of media representations of surrogacy in a popular television series in Israel, entitled A Touch of Happiness, which has been broadcast repeatedly over the last decade. The analysis compared the televised content with the legal framework and social reality of surrogacy, and found major discrepancies between the two. Thus, this study demonstrates the role media can play in disseminating misinformation and misconceptions that affect women’s health and lives.

How to Be the Best at Everything: The Gendering and Embodiment of Girl/Boy Advice

Barbara LeSavoy — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:05 PDT

This paper explores the binary divide packaged under the children’s How be the Best at Everything (2007) girl/boy advice books. Postmodern and materialist feminist thought as a lens into media-infused social and class reproduction provide a theoretical framework in interrogating this gender binary. I argue that that the books, as heteronormative nostalgia, operationalize a theory I term “gender retraction,” a phenomenon in which the vast knowledge that informs our identity spectrum propels us into a cultural time warp, where, with an array of socially inscribed possibilities, the binary clarity of age old girl/boy categories has resurging appeal The paper exposes gender retraction modeling invented and packaged under boy/girl advice and also analyzes contemporary production modes of sex and class division that stage an uneven distribution of gender capital. Closing arguments propose a gender progression vs. retraction frame to promote open-subject opportunities for children to become.

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Women and the Media"

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:42:48 PDT